Defining Moments
by apples-a-day
Summary: [Previously known as Neighbours] Emma Swan considers her insufferable next door neighbour to be the bane of her existence. But when said neighbour is drunk off her ass and somehow ends up at her door, they both end up with a lot more than they thought was possible.
1. Neighbours

**So, a few months ago I started posting my drabbles collection, and the first drabble was Neighbours! To my immense surprise, a whole lot of people wanted it continued!**

**When the AUs for SQW were posted and had Roommates as one of the themes, I decided to take advantage of it, and have the continuation of this fic be the prompt fill for that day!**

**So this chapter is Neighbours, so if you've read it, it's still the same story. Next chapter [which will be up super quick] will feature the new content!**

**If you haven't read it, enjoy! I kept the blurb from before just for the heck of it.**

* * *

**Neighbours**

_Comedy_

**Summary:** Emma Swan considers her insufferable next door neighbour to be the bane of her existence. But when said neighbour is drunk off her ass and somehow ends up at her door, they both end up with a lot more than they bargained for.

**Prompted by:** yours truly!

**Warnings/Notes:** None really, unless anyone gets queasy with Regina being drunk? Though I suppose later on there's brief mentions of wounds and blood, just fyi. Also my knowledge of inebriation facts is a bit shaky considering my lack of experience with drinking, so forgive me if something is inaccurate.

Also this got a bit out of hand and long. Like more than 12,000 words long. Which means this technically isn't really a drabble, but oh well.

* * *

Emma Swan could only describe her life as sad. Here she was on a Friday night and all she was planning on doing was binge watching Netflix with only a beer bottle as company.

It wasn't that Emma didn't have any friends. But she could hardly ask Mary Margaret to drop her newborn son - not literally of course - and have a wild night out with her. David was in the same boat, being Mary Margaret's husband and father of the child. Lacey might've gone for it, but ever since she had started to date the creepy guy Gold, she couldn't have one night out without the guy clinging to his girlfriend like a lovesick puppy. Well maybe puppy wasn't the right word, puppies were cute and the pawnshop owner with the eerie smirk did not qualify for that. More like a lovesick ball of mucus.

So that's how Emma ended up sitting in her pajamas, getting comfy on her old couch, and ready to start watching a new show that Lacey recommended to her; it was supposedly funny, and the blonde definitely needed some entertainment to cure her boredom.

But clearly the universe had other plans for her.

Someone was thumping on her door. But it wasn't a rhythmic knock to try to draw attention that someone was here. This sounded more like someone shoved against it, and was currently trying to force the door. Just great: a robber. Emma sighed, of course there was going to be something like this. When she had hoped for a bit of entertainment to liven up the dull Friday night, she hadn't expected self-defence and a thief to be a part of it.

She went near the door, getting her gun out of the entranceway table's drawer. Making sure the safety was off, Emma subtly made her way closer. She could barely make out some sort of mumble coming through the door. Clearly this guy was no expert, who made this amount of ruckus when trying to break into an apartment? An occupied apartment at that. Amateur.

The blonde just took a deep breath, and unlocked the door. She didn't open it, she waited until the thief would try to force the door open again, and once they tumbled in disoriented, she'd pounce.

Everything was going according to plan. A thump was heard as the thief on the other side of the door tried again, turning the knob. They crashed inside with a yelp and a string of curses, but Emma was frozen as she recognized the figure that stumbled in.

"Regina?" What the hell was her next door neighbour doing trying to break into her home? Especially in that heart-stopping dress. It made the blonde's mind wander to places she didn't want to visit with Regina as the subject.

The brunette didn't respond, instead focusing on standing up, but it was not an easy feat. She kept on fumbling and collapsing. Something was off with the usually composed and cold woman, and Emma couldn't quite place a finger on it. In fact, the blonde was so puzzled by the appearance of her neighbour, she was still standing slack-jawed, gun in her hands - though no longer pointed at her neighbour - and hadn't even attempted to make a move to help the bumbling woman.

"What the hell are you doing in my apartment Ms. Swan?" It was then, hearing the slurred words come from Regina, and noticing the faraway glazed look, that Emma realized that the older woman was completely drunk.

"Not sure how to break it to you Regina, but you're in _my_ apartment." Emma couldn't resist smirking as she backed a few paces and replaced the gun in the drawer where she kept it.

"Nonsense, this is my place and you're breaking in!"

"I beg to differ, look around and tell me that you actually live here."

The brunette was clearly still as hard headed drunk as she was when sober, pushing past the blonde to look inside the place. However the usual bravado was lost with how tipsy she was. "Well shit."

"Now, what say you go and get into your own home. I'll even lead you to it." She was _so_ going to use this as blackmail material. Nothing would stop her.

It wasn't as if Regina herself didn't make snide comments about the blonde every unfortunate time they crossed paths. The two had been on each other's nerves ever since Regina had moved in. Granted that perhaps Emma had made a bit of fool of herself, but she had been brain dead, and there was no reason for the scathing response she got from the brunette. Ever since then the two traded barbs and made sufficient noise to annoy the other, even getting complaints from other tenants around the vicinity. Emma's weapon of choice was loud music, while Regina's was hammering. Either the brunette's apartment doubled as an art gallery, or she was trying to recreate IKEA. Between the noise and the banter, it was a nonstop war that had no end in sight.

"Can't." Emma was puzzled. The brunette hadn't made an effort to go back to the door, and was now awkwardly standing by the kitchen. Emma had half a mind to drag the brunette out of her home, even if she was kicking and screaming.

"And why not?"

"Key is stuck."

"What?" Emma turned back to the still open doorway and saw that indeed a key was sticking out of the keyhole. She marched to the door and tried to pry the key out. Just like Regina had said, it was stuck. It wouldn't budge one way or the other. Just great. "And I don't suppose you have a spare key with you?"

"No Ms. Swan, I don't." Emma was sure that was supposed to sound condescending, but Regina right now sounded like she was learning to speak for the first time, which bordered between adorable and hilarious.

"Just great. Looks like you'll be staying the night then. Too bad the place smells like a pigsty right?" Of course she couldn't resist throwing back the brunette's words at her. It'd serve her right for the rude remarks made in the past.

"I refuse to stay here."

"And where, pray tell, do you plan on going? Camp out in front of your door?"

"Anything is better than here." Regina's grimace pushed Emma's last button.

"Seriously? You'd rather risk getting groped by Jones than swallowing your pride and staying here?" It was well known that one of the tenants down the hall, Killian Jones, was a bit handsy. He specifically had a thing with Emma, a thought that made her gag, but he would take any woman that would have him, just to prove his sexual prowess.

"Fair point."

So Emma closed and locked the door behind her before making her way to the kitchen where the drunk woman was slowly swaying. Fuck, how could she look so gorgeous and be such a bitch was something Emma could never wrap her mind around. "Okay why don't you go sit down before you get yourself sick?"

The brunette didn't even attempt to counter the suggestion, and wordlessly plopped down on the couch in the living room, where Emma had been sitting on a while ago. For her part, Emma grabbed a cup from the cabinet and filled it with water, taking it with her to go sit beside the brunette. No way was she going to add kindle to the fire and make Regina more drunk than she already was. She might find the woman grating, but she was a decent human being first and foremost, and if they were inebriated, Emma would help. It was probably the cop in her.

"Alright, here you go. If you feel sleepy then just let me know and I'll move so you can sleep here." Emma didn't have a second bed, so the only option for Regina was the couch they were currently occupying, but since the night was still young for Emma, she wanted to get started on the TV show, Regina would have to deal with it.

"I'm fine, Ms. Swan." The bleary eyes the brunette sported told otherwise, but Emma wasn't about to argue.

"Whatever you say, hope you don't mind, I still want to enjoy my Friday night." Emma left the last part just for the sake of their usual banter, but it had none of the bite she usually used.

The brunette didn't reply, instead just stared at the TV screen. So Emma pressed play and tried to focus on the show, rather than the gorgeous woman beside her.

Three hours later and Emma was hooked. Damn, she had to make a mental note to text Lacey and thank her for the recommendation.

Emma suddenly tensed as she felt a hand on her thigh. Turning ever so slowly, she saw Regina staring at her, the show completely forgotten. But it wasn't the usual glare she was sporting. No this almost looked like...bedroom eyes? Could Regina Mills actually be attracted to her? The thought made Emma's heart skip a beat. Then it sunk within the next second as she remembered that Regina was completely drunk, working the alcohol out of her system, so she wasn't in her right mind.

That fact was further accentuated as she felt hands on her cheeks, and suddenly, lips were pressed against hers. Emma was torn; she wanted to stop this, it didn't feel right to take advantage of the situation no matter how much she ached for it, but Emma just wanted to savour this for a few seconds. Even though the two women never managed to have a civil conversation, Emma had often wondered if they could ever reconcile and become friends, or even something more. But now was not the time to fantasize and daydream.

With a pang of regret, Emma put her hands on the brunette's shoulders and pushed her back gently. As soon as their lips parted, Emma wished nothing more that they would reattach once more. "You're going to regret this in the morning."

"I don't care." Emma saw that Regina looked almost heartbroken at having the kiss broken, but the blonde just kept repeating a mantra in her head: 'she's drunk, she's drunk, she's drunk'.

"I'm pretty sure you won't buy that as a reason tomorrow."

And once more, Regina repeated, "I don't care," and rushed to kiss Emma again.

Oh god why did this feel so right and so wrong at the same time? The blonde used all of her willpower to push Regina far enough back. "I'm sorry, I really don't want to take advantage of this."

"Well what do you know, chivalry isn't dead after all." Regina smirked, but it was a playful smirk, Emma was happy to note.

"Just doing my duty as a decent person."

They fell silent then, turning their attention back to the TV. Or at least that's what Emma tried to do. She still had fireworks going off in her head at the thought that Regina Mills had actually kissed her.

Half an hour later both women were asleep on the couch. Emma was using the couch's arm as a pillow, while Regina used Emma as her pillow, arms encircling around her waist, head at the crook of her neck.

* * *

**10 months ago**

"Hey Bobby, how's it going?" Emma flashed a smile at the concierge, coming in from her shift at the station. She was tired and ready to drop dead to the world, but she could spare a few pleasantries for the new concierge. He was actually pretty friendly, and Emma always liked chatting with him when he was in.

"Pretty good." He smiled at her in return, and just as Emma was heading towards the elevator, he remembered something. "Oh did you hear, your new neighbour moved in!"

"Really? I'll have to go say hi to them then!" Emma had been out trying to crack open a case for the past two days, practically sleeping at the station and living on caffeine while she and David put the puzzle pieces together to solve the conundrum that had been plaguing them for months now. This was the first time she was coming home in those two days, so she was a bit out of the loop.

Bobby thought about perhaps warning Emma regarding the new neighbour's foul mood, but decided against it. Who was he to meddle in the affairs of the tenants, and perhaps the other woman was maybe just having a bad day and would actually turn out to be friendly. Plus if there was anyone who could make everyone smile, it was Emma Swan.

Meanwhile, Emma waved bye to Bobby and got into the elevator, pressing the button for the tenth floor. She fiddled with her keys as she finally arrived at her destination. She looked towards number 108, and then glanced down at herself. She looked presentable, though perhaps wearing two-days old clothes didn't serve as a good first impression, but Emma knew that the minute she went inside her house, she wasn't going to be coming out for the rest of the day. Plus she had to go in tomorrow to work at the crack of dawn, and she was sure her neighbour would _not_ appreciate getting woken up at 5 am just to meet her. If she waited any longer Emma might seem like a recluse. So she took a deep breath, pocketed her keys, and went over next door, knocking twice.

It didn't take long for the door to open, and Emma was floored. The gorgeous brunette who opened the door took her breath away; Emma felt like she was in her own romcom movie. She didn't even notice that the confused frown the brunette had originally been sporting had upgraded into a glare. "May I help you?"

"I-uh...yeah! You can." Great, now Emma had forgotten to speak.

"Are you going to enlighten me anytime soon or am I going to have to play the guessing game? I assure you I am not in the mood for childish antics, so if this is a prank-"

"Emma Swan." So much for a good first impression, now she had interrupted the other woman with blurting out her name.

"I beg your pardon?"

"My name is Emma Swan."

"And why would I care for your name?" The brunette sounded bored with the situation, ready to shut the door on the idiotic blonde's face.

Emma frowned, talk about snippy. Suddenly the lovey dovey haze was gone and Emma could think again. "Because I'm your new neighbour." She held out her hand, hoping to salvage something out of this train wreck.

What she received was a door slammed in her face.

* * *

**Present Day**

Regina frowned as she slowly woke up, her bed feeling very different than it usually did. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, but as she stretched, it was almost as if her bed was breathing and moving beneath her? She hoped and prayed that she hadn't brought someone back with her. She'd kill Kathryn for conning her into the party last night. She cracked an eye open and immediately yelled.

Emma Swan for her part, had been happily sleeping until she felt someone moving above her, gently stirring. She shifted a bit, getting a bit ticklish. Until the scream.

The bloodcurdling scream that had Emma yelping and falling to the floor as she saw Regina Mills scramble off from on top of her, her face pale and eyes wide, though she was sure she was mirroring the brunette.

"Motherfucker! Give a woman a little bit of a warning next time you want to give them a heart attack as a wakeup call why don't you?" Emma rubbed her sore body from where she landed on the carpet.

"Ms. Swan!" Regina was flabbergasted, still on the sofa sitting on her heels, glaring at the woman groaning on the floor.

"Regina!" Emma responded with equal ferocity, and glared right back at the brunette.

"What the hell is the meaning of this?" Regina didn't even want to deal with the massive hangover she had, instead focusing on how exactly she had wound up here. Last thing she remembered was getting dropped off by a cab in front of her apartment, drunkenly going up the elevator to her floor and then...

"Seriously? You don't remember nearly bowling through my door and insisting I was breaking into my own home? Or perhaps breaking my keyhole by jamming your own key in it?" Emma deadpanned.

Regina stayed silent. It was coming back to her a bit, though her massive migraine wasn't helping. She squinted her eyes shut and massaged her temple as she tried to focus.

Emma didn't say another word as she stood up and walked off somewhere, but Regina stayed glued to her position, hands on her thighs as she tried to keep her hangover at bay and piece together what exactly happened that resulted in her sleeping on top of Emma Swan.

A few minutes later, Regina still had her eyes squeezed shut as she heard Emma return. "Here." She opened her eyes and looked to the side. Emma was holding out two tablets of aspirin and a glass of water.

She took them and downed both. Regina figured she should at least play nice with the woman who, despite their rivalry, still let her stay the night. "Thank you."

"'Welcome." Emma flopped down on the couch, looking much like a ragdoll with her limbs resting anywhere.

Suddenly someone knocked on the door, a bit of urgency to the sound. "Everything alright there lass?"

Just what she needed to cap off a wonderful start to her morning, Killian Jones. "Yeah!" She yelled back, not even bothering to get up.

Regina winced a bit at the volume, but respected that, considering the man on the other side of the door was an ass, Emma had no desire to interact with Jones face to face.

"What was that scream? And why is your key in your door?" It was clear then that Jones had tried to open the door and noticed what was wrong when he failed to budge the key or the door. "Oh."

Emma wasn't sure if she wanted to scoff at the stupidity of the man, or get him arrested for attempting to get into her home. "It's a long story. And I'm housing a banshee and she woke up cranky."

"I see. Well...good day Swan." Clearly Jones left on an uncomfortable note, probably assuming that the banshee was probably a date, and a female at that.

Emma wasn't shy about her sexuality, and she had told Jones a number of times that she wasn't into guys. She hoped this was the nail in the coffin for him to leave well enough alone.

"Seriously? A banshee?" Regina was not amused.

"Yes, seriously, though I'm pretty sure your scream must've woken the dead." Emma snarked right back. "You know what, I'm going to make coffee because I refuse to deal with this shit without caffeine."

Regina just stared as Emma got up and went over to the kitchen to make them said coffee. "Do you take anything on yours?"

"No."

A few minutes later and Emma was holding out a cup of steaming coffee for her. She looked up to thank the woman once again, and noticed that Emma had some red around her lips... a very familiar shade of red. Oh no, she didn't.

Emma frowned as the brunette suddenly froze, hand stretched out to take the coffee, a look of shock on her face as she looked at her. "Do I have something on my face?"

Regina meekly nodded. "Yes, on your lips."

Emma put two and two together. "Oh yeah, you kissed me, twice. I tried to get you to back off since you were kinda punch drunk, but your motto last night was 'I don't care'."

Regina looked about ready to have an aneurysm.

"Don't worry though, nothing happened. I was binge-watching TV and you were sitting beside me. Then I guess we fell asleep and ended up sleeping on the couch together." Emma saw Regina visibly relax, taking the coffee without another word.

After a few minutes of silence while both women sipped their drinks, Regina finally said, "Thank you."

Emma nodded slowly, responding with "Like I said last night, just doing the decent human being thing."

A few more minutes of silence passed, and Regina felt like she needed to say something. She felt bad knowing she had basically invaded the blonde's home just because of a mistake. But nothing sounded sincere.

"Well, I'm going to call Bobby to see if he can get in touch with someone who can fix this so you can go back to your home and I can continue my life." Emma didn't mean for it to sound harsh, but she really wasn't a morning person, and being up at barely 9 am on a Saturday morning was practically a crime in her books.

Of course, Regina didn't know that, assuming with a pang that Emma couldn't wait to kick her out of her home. Understandable though, it wasn't as though they were best friends, and from the little she remembered and what Emma told her, Regina hadn't been the best unintentional house guest last night.

"Hey Bobby."

Emma was over on the intercom with the concierge, and it was clear that the man had just arrived and was not fully awake. "Hey Emma, isn't it a bit early for you?"

"Yeah I know it's early. Listen I have a bit of a situation here. My _delightful_ neighbour accidentally tried to get into my apartment last night, and her key got stuck in the keyhole. Could you see about getting someone here to pry that key out of my door so we can go back to our lives?"

"Oooh." Guessing by the sarcasm she laced onto the explanation, and the subsequent answer, Regina knew that Bobby was well aware which neighbour was currently locked out of her apartment. "Yeah I'll get right on that Emma."

"Thanks Bobby, keep me posted."

Regina watched as Emma sauntered back to the couch, and collapsed once again into it. She had to say something. "I'm sorry."

The blonde looked quizzically at the brunette. "For what?"

"For disrupting your night yesterday, and damaging your door and yelling at you and coming on to you." Regina wasn't sure where the word-vomit was coming from but it didn't look like it was going to stop yet. Perhaps this was an after-effect of all the drinks she had last night. "And for this morning and screaming and making you fall."

Clearly Emma hadn't expected such a sincere comment from Regina. Truth was she wasn't sure how to react. "Oh...it's okay, really!"

"No, Ms. Swan, it's not. You want me out of your apartment as soon as possible, and it's apparent."

Emma was flabbergasted. "What? I just assumed _you_ wanted to get out of here as fast as you could, considering you and I never really got along. I'm down with continuing this bonding session. Plus I'm not exactly a morning person, so my social skills don't kick in until a couple of hours later and with plenty of coffee."

Regina fell silent. She went back to sipping her coffee, wondering if the awkwardness would dissipate before she had to return to her home. But how does someone strike up conversation with the woman that she had spent the last 10 months antagonizing?

"So." It seemed like Emma was going to take the first shot. "Is this the real Regina or are you still too far into a hangover to be your usual snarky and frigid self?"

The brunette could've bet that Emma had plenty of stronger choice words to describe her, but she was thankful they weren't voiced, even if it felt a bit like the woman was trying to be pacific for the sake of peace. "What do you mean?"

"Well y'know, you're usually not exactly the friendly type and we have spent the past... what nearly a year now?, arguing and raising hell on each other, but this Regina is nice... I like it." Emma wasn't sure where the last part came from, but she instantly regretted letting those words pass through her badly-functioning filter. She just hoped that Regina wouldn't question her about it.

"I don't have multiple personalities Ms. Swan, this is all me."

"Not the impression I got from the door slammed in my face ten months ago," was the muttered reply. And there was the snark, coming back again. But before she could let this conversation derail into another snark fest, Emma wanted to take advantage of the fact that they were both currently stuck in her house and that Regina seemed to be more social. Truth of the matter was, Emma still had a major crush on the slightly older woman, and last night's kiss only helped to solidify that crush. Can't blame a girl for wanting to take this opportunity to get into her crush's good books right? "So is it like a defense mechanism then?"

"What is?"

"Your...cold demeanour."

"Really Ms. Swan, you need not mince words. I know you don't say that to someone like Mr. Brown when talking about me."

It took Emma a few seconds to remember that Bobby's last name was Brown. She then rolled her eyes at both the formal titles and her suggestion. "Fine, do you usually come of as bitchy because it's a defense mechanism?"

Emma had been expecting a scathing remark or even sarcasm, but definitely not, "Yes, it is."

Even Regina surprised herself with the revelation. Why was she being so open to her neighbour all of a sudden? "Why? I mean, no offence but you won't really make friends with that kind of attitude."

"Perhaps, Ms. Swan, as unbelievable as it might seem to you, I do not want friends."

And indeed Emma found that hard to believe. "What? Seriously? You don't have _any_ friends?"

"I never said that. I have one friend, and that is more than enough for me."

"Really? But- you...and." It was official, Regina had left Emma completely flabbergasted.

"Honestly Ms. Swan, are you always this articulate?"

"Not unless it's in front of a pretty girl." To cap it off, Emma winked at her.

Regina was sure that her cheeks heated a bit at that. Now it was Regina's turn to be silenced with an unexpected answer.

"But really, you don't have any interest in getting any new friends ever?" Emma still couldn't wrap her mind around this.

"None at all."

"But why? You could have so much more fun, and talking with different people, learning about their lives-"

"I'm not interested in friends, Ms. Swan. Everyone ends up betraying you eventually. Less friends means less chances of being screwed over."

Emma was aghast. "Who in this world imparted that little piece of shitty advice on you?"

Regina scoffed, a condescending sneer gracing her face at the blonde's rude remark. "My mother."

"She must've been a piece of work. Who says that to their kid?"

"I do agree with her actually. Friends are useless and pointless."

Emma levelled the other woman with a look that screamed 'I call bullshit on that'. "Oh come on, you said it yourself, you have _a_ friend, so clearly you can see they can't be all that bad!"

"I disagree."

"Plus I'm pretty sure your friend wouldn't much enjoy being called useless and pointless." Then Emma thought for a bit before adding, "Unless she also graduated from Mrs. Mills' school of shitty antisocial proverbs?"

Regina's lips quivered the slightest bit upwards into a smile. It came and went so quickly, Emma, who had been looking attentively at the other woman, started to wonder if she had imagined the brunette's entertainment at her little quip. "She is a rare exception."

"Perhaps other rare exceptions out there for you?" Emma wanted to add 'like me' but felt that would be a bit presumptuous of her to do so. At least right now.

"I doubt it. I've had my trial and error phase years ago Ms. Swan. It's a waste of time trying to convince me otherwise."

"Well, I don't agree." Feeling bold, Emma put her idea on the table with a grin. "And you know what, I'm going to prove it to you. I bet that by the end of the year, I will be your friend. Consider this like a trial period to seeing if having another friend would be such a horrible thing."

Regina's expression was one of disdain. "And what if I don't agree to your wager?"

"Then you can go back to your lonely life with your one friend and fancy ass job. But you'll have lost the opportunity to opening yourself up to something great and wonderful."

Regina doubted that would be the case. "I'll take my chances staying as I am Ms. Swan."

"Oh come on, if it doesn't work, you can continue teasing me eternally until one of us moves out. And I promise I won't bother you anymore. Just give it a chance Regina. It's just 4 months."

The intercom beeped right then, prompting Emma to go over and talk to Bobby. He let them know that a repair-man would be there in a couple of minutes. Emma thanked him for the update and then made her way back to the couch, waiting for Regina's response.

The brunette sighed. She'd had to endure more for less, so she nodded. "Very well Ms. Swan. Once the clock strikes midnight and everyone rings in the new year, you'll leave me alone." She extended her hand to shake on it.

Emma gladly took the offered hand, shaking it firmly. "I doubt that; you'll become my friend. Watch."

* * *

**August 15**

It had been a week since the wager had been set. Regina had gotten her key back, and she'd hardly seen the blonde since then. She knew the blonde had odd hours from the little she'd seen in the past 10 months, but had never sought to ask. Rather, she never had an interest in knowing why.

Just then someone knocked on her door. Regina opened it to see said blonde grinning on the other side.

"Come on. Let's go."

"Go where Ms. Swan?" Regina really wasn't in the mood. Her work week had been hell, she just wanted to wind down and relax.

"Out. Come on!"

"Ms. Swan, being vague and insisting 'come on' won't make me go anywhere with you."

"Okay, first of all, my name is Emma, if we're going to do the whole friends thing, you have to start calling me by my first name, we're not business partners or something. Secondly, I'm taking you out for a walk around the neighbourhood so we can get to know each other, as part of said friends thing."

Regina was not amused one bit with the blonde's answer. Though she had to admit, the woman had balls. Others had peed their pants trying to ask smaller things of her, and yet she barrelled through everything gung ho. "Ms. Swan, I agreed to that 'friends thing' as you so call it, to hopefully get you off my back, I did not sign up for a bonding session or anything of the like. And I have the right to call you whatever I so wish."

"No wonder it's so hard for you to make friends. Seriously woman. It's just a walk, I'm not planning on pulling your teeth out without anaesthetic. Would it kill you to go along with this?"

"No, it wouldn't kill me, I just find it a waste of time, time that I would rather spend doing more pleasant things."

"Okay, no walking, gotcha. So what do you do for fun? Read business reports?" Regina realized then that Emma Swan was the most stubborn person she'd ever met. She didn't take no for an answer.

She really wanted to smack the blonde's smirk right out of her lips. "Ms. Swan you are dangerously close to losing your wager within a week, not to mention driving me closer to a restraining order against you. So do yourself a favour and leave me alone. This is not a free card to do as you please and expect me to go along with it."

Emma held her hands up in surrender. "Alright lady, forgive me for trying to be social. But just so you know, in case shaking hands on a wager or holding your end of the bargain on deals isn't something you do very often, the wager doesn't end until the end of the year. Any quitting before then is forfeiting, and although I don't know you too well, I'm positive that you're someone who never loses. Do you really want to lose against me, Regina?"

Before Regina could say anything, Emma had already left, headed back to her apartment.

* * *

**September 1**

Emma entered the building with a wince. Although she was quiet, internally she was cursing every deity and being under the sun, using her very expansive knowledge of creative swear words she had accumulated over the years. And as a cop she had heard plenty.

"Morning Emma-'re you okay?!" Bobby looked at her with trepidation.

She supposed right then that she must look like she just crawled through a horror movie to get here. Her jeans were torn and ripped, her white tank top was coated in dried blood, making her shirt look a terrifying shade of burgundy, and her trusty red leather jacket was caked in mud, as was the rest of her clothes. Her hair was matted with the mud, and her skin was covered in grime and dirt. She's pretty sure she had blood on her face too, but she hadn't really been able to get a good look in the mirror. She had shooed away the doctors, insisting she only needed a patch up job from the bullet wound on her tummy. It hurt like a bitch and Emma was really not in the mood to field questions.

David had insisted she stay over with him and Mary Margaret to recuperate, but Emma was quite aware just how motherly his wife was. Hell she knew her from before she met him, and it was through her that they even met, so she just denied the invitation, planning on falling asleep in her own apartment for the next week or so before wanting to deal with anyone else again.

But now she had to answer the petrified concierge before he called an ambulance on her. "Yeah, dangers of the job you know. Just a prick who ended up being a little bit trigger happy. I'll be fine."

He didn't look too convinced. "Alright, if you say so. Give me a call if you need anything."

Emma flashed him a smile. "Sure thing."

Once Emma was in the elevator, she sagged. God it was so hard keeping up the facade that she was just fine and dandy. The wound hurt like hell, and the rest of her body was sore from running and tackling the asshole who opened fire on her stomach. But Emma knew that she shouldn't have let her guard down too soon, because as soon as the elevator pinged, and the doors opened, Emma was faced with the last person she wanted to see.

Regina Mills, holding a briefcase, looked like she was seeing a ghost as she took in Emma's appearance. Then again, she probably looked worse than a ghost, more like a zombie that had died two times over. She pushed past the frozen brunette, grumbling a curt, "Morning."

"What the hell happened to you?" The elevator was forgotten as the brunette turned to take how dishevelled her neighbour looked. After a couple of seconds the elevator doors closed to respond to another call, but neither woman paid it any mind.

Emma didn't even turn around to respond to Regina, just gave a grunt and kept walking down the hall.

"Ms. Swan!" Nothing. Regina huffed and walked over until she caught up with the blonde who was clearly in pain. "Emma!"

"What!" Emma turned around, not even registering that Regina had used her first name. They hadn't really talked after their little debacle more than 2 weeks ago, apart from some casual "Ms. Swan", "Regina" and some vague conversations about the weather that were curt and far from friendly. It wasn't as if they were arguing that much, but the curt answers wouldn't fool anyone into thinking that they could be friends. Truth was that Regina was feeling a bit guilty over the incident, but she was too proud to admit it.

"What happened? You look like-"

"Shit? Yeah I know. Comes with the job. You should see the other guy." Emma flashed a pained smirk. Then it fell as a wave of exhaustion hit her. "Look, can I just please go home? I feel like crap and probably look worse than it, and I really don't have time to do this right now. I'll rain check, and plus, you look like you're headed to work."

Regina watched as Emma turned around and walked off, but she didn't budge. It felt wrong to leave such a wounded and clearly exhausted woman to fend for herself. She tried to convince herself that she still didn't care for the woman, not even a bit. This was just like the decent human being thing Emma had mentioned last month, right?

"Motherfucker! Son of a fucking bitch-" Regina looked up and saw that Emma was having a hard time opening her door. From what she could tell, Emma had gotten her keys out, but fumbled with them and they fell. Picking them up was proving difficult, leading to the string of expletives coming out from the blonde's mouth. "- can shove it up his fucking asshole! Hijo de su puta madre!"

Regina's eyes widened at seeing the Spanish mixed in there. She made a mental note to ask the blonde about it later. Wait, later? Regina was not planning on having a conversation with Emma. Yet she was still standing there. She finally made up her mind, walking over to the still cursing blonde. "Here let me."

The insults died on the blonde's lips as she gingerly turned to see her neighbour not only still there, but picking up her keys and opening the door for her.

"Come on." Regina let the blonde go inside first before going in herself, closing and locking the door behind her. She put the keys down on top the entranceway table, in a bowl that she had seen the keys placed before, as well as her briefcase beside it. Emma just stood there at the mouth of the hallway, dumbfounded at the 180 Regina seemed to be doing. But she was all business as she carefully looked over the blonde. "Are you injured?"

Emma was sure someone was pulling a trick on her. "What?" Great her ability to speak like a functional human being had deserted her.

"I see that you're in a pitiful state, but is it all superficial or did you get badly injured?"

The blonde tried to get her brain to work. "No, yeah I mean, I got a gunshot wound-"

"Where?" The urgency and force of the question threw Emma off. Regina walked up to the blonde, the latter for the first time seeing Regina looking worried. "Do you need to go to the hospital?"

Emma lifted her bloodied tanktop a bit to show the patch job. "Been there done that."

Regina saw that there was indeed gauze covering the woman's lower stomach, but fear still seeped at seeing how bad her neighbour look. "Well why don't you go get a bath to get rid of all that grime. Have you had breakfast yet? I'll make you some."

Emma had no idea who this woman was and what she had done with the usually frigid neighbour, but she wasn't about to complain or trade her up for anything. "Uh yeah sure, I'll go do that. Thanks."

"Do you need any help?"

"Nah I'm good."

Some minutes later and Emma was back, wet hair in a ponytail, wearing clean pyjamas and feeling a lot better than what she had been while wearing her ruined clothes. Her jeans were for sure a lost cause, but she was sure her jacket could be saved, it was her favourite after all. The tank top was nothing special, but Emma would try to wash it to see if the blood would go away. Walking back to the kitchen, she smelled coffee and toast, but saw no neighbour.

"I don't care if he's waited 2 months for this. Tell him that if he's waited this long, he can wait another day and meet me tomorrow!" Emma practically jumped out of her skin at seeing the brunette appear, speaking into her cellphone while pacing. She saw the ferocious Regina Mills growling into the phone, presumably to a poor assistant who was probably not paid enough to deal with this kind of shit.

Emma stayed stock still as the brunette hung up the phone after barking a couple of orders more. So much for a sweet and docile Regina, the bitchy one was back in full swing.

"Are you feeling better?" Emma didn't respond, so Regina went up to the blonde, a hand reaching out to touch the other woman's upper arm. "Emma?"

Said woman jumped out of her skin, not a good idea because the pain came shooting back, after being dormant for the past 10 minutes ever since she started to shower. "Fucking shit!"

Regina jumped back a bit, letting go of the other's arm, at hearing the curse words. "Does it hurt?" Now Regina felt like she had just asked the dumbest question ever, of course it'd hurt, that's why she yelled out in the first place.

But Emma didn't prod her for the question, instead just nodding. "Sorry for startling you."

"I probably deserve it, I startled you a few seconds before that."

"Touche."

Both women stood there, unsure what to do. Then Regina remembered breakfast. "Go sit down on the couch, I'll bring you a plate of food and some coffee."

And kind Regina was back. Emma decided that it was probably best she just nod slowly and not question it, otherwise she'd probably drive herself insane trying to figure her out. "Thanks."

A few minutes later both women were seated on the couch exactly as they were one month ago. "So what happened?"

Emma swallowed some of her toast and launched into her tale. "I'm a cop, a detective actually. We had a white collar crime, forger who loved to recreate Renaissance paintings and sell them on the black market as real ones. We had been tracking him down for the past while, and yesterday we finally got a lead on him. We went in to bust him, and bam, guy has a gun and is pointing at us. Turns out he was trying to be all bark and no bite, but when he got ready to put the gun down, he accidentally pressed on the trigger. Guess who was in the line of fire?

"Well the guy freaked out then, dropping everything and running off, right out of the second story window. Me being the hardheaded idiot I am, rushed after him, jumping out the window as well. The building was near this marsh, hence the mud and dirt and everything. Eventually I caught up with the bastard, and body checked him. And that's basically the past 24 hours from me. Now care to enlighten me on what you're doing here?"

Regina had been raptly listening to the story, surprised at the woman's career path, but did a double take on the last part. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Regina, is that you were clearly headed to work, you were yelling at your assistant to reschedule meetings and to postpone things, and yet you interrupted all of that because I looked like shit? Now you're acting like you've got all the time in the world, and I hate for you to lose your job because of me."

Regina flashed the smallest hints of a smile. "Well that's the perk of being the boss of the company."

"Seriously? You're the boss? Why am I not surprised? What field?"

"Law."

"Once again, not surprised. But you're avoiding the question. Why clear your schedule for me?"

"Emma, you looked like death had chewed you over and spewed you back out, I couldn't just leave you by yourself. Plus I..." Here Regina fell silent, mumbling the last part.

"What was that?" Emma was grinning, thinking it to be a joke. But at seeing how the older woman only clutched her arms, seemingly making herself smaller, Emma had realized the woman had never acted like this before. So she scooted closer to the other woman, grabbing her hands and squeezing them softly. "Hey. Whatever it is, don't be embarrassed or scared. Friends tell each other stuff."

Friends, right. Regina had to resist the urge to scoff at the title. She wasn't falling for this. She pulled her hands away from the blonde, clearing her throat. "It's nothing, I was just saying that after you did the decent thing and helped me while I was drunk, I should do the same for you while you're hurt."

Emma nodded. She didn't think for a second that that was what Regina had originally been intending to say, but didn't question it. She could note the honesty even within these words. "Thanks."

* * *

**September 3**

Emma looked up at the very intimidating building in front of her, clutching the bag she was holding tightly. She was either going to make this a stepping stone in their friendship, or it'd crash and burn terribly. No in between.

She passed through the revolving doors, stepping in to the cool interior of the high rise. She gave the security guards a smile and went up to the directory. Mills, Mills, Mills, where could she be? Ah! Mills and Associates, 20th floor. Bingo and score 1 for Emma.

"May I help you?" One of the security guards clearly didn't like the look of her traipsing around such a fancy place without a suit of some kind.

Emma had donned her usual attire of leather jackets and jeans, so yeah maybe she looked a bit out of place, but she had every right to be there. "Oh hi! I was just checking the directory, I'm here to see Ms. Mills."

"Do you have an appointment?" The security guard knew Ms. Mills, not personally thankfully, but he'd seen her around the building, yelling and commanding everyone, terrifying poor interns on the side. He's also heard the horror stories, like one of the old guards, Danny, getting the third degree over letting someone into her office without an appointment. The guy had been obviously fired, but had a sympathy shower over having survived the ordeal.

"Kinda not really?" Emma tried to hope that good looks and innocence would get her in, but this guy looked the type to not take bullshit as an answer.

"No appointment, no entrance."

Alright, Emma was going to try another approach. She took out her badge and flashed it. "Look man, I'm a detective. I was told to come here to talk about a case. My boss assured me I wouldn't have a problem getting in, even without an appointment, but she's expecting me. Just call her and ask if she knows me and I'll bet you anything she'll say yes."

Clearly this guy feared Regina, because at the mention of having to call the woman, he balked. "Yeah sure, have a good day Miss."

Emma flashed him a smile. Intimidation and confidence always worked wonders. Score 2, and things were going good so far. She made her way to the elevators before the security guard could have time to rethink and maybe get a bit of courage, pressing the button for the 20th floor and then the door close button.

A few minutes later and Emma was standing in front of the desk of the woman who she assumed was the one Regina was yelling at the day before yesterday.

"One second please." The secretary, a woman who couldn't be much older than herself flashed a practised smile at her.

Emma nodded her understanding, looking around the busy office. It looked like the stereotypical office setting. Cubicles everywhere, people walking with purpose.

"Yes? How can I help you?" The secretary was now looking at her expectantly. Clearly these people were suit snobs, because the condescending look she received due to her attire was really unnecessary.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you could direct me to Ms. Mills' office?"

The secretary looked down towards her schedule. There was no one scheduled for now. In fact, her boss had told her in no uncertain terms that she wasn't to be disturbed since she was busy looking over some important documents. "I'm sorry, but seeing as you don't have an appointment, I can't help you."

"Seriously?" Emma could hardly believe this.

"What seems to be the problem?" Emma whipped around to see a man dressed in a pressed two-piece suit, hair neatly combed and beard trimmed. He looked like he just got out of a catalogue.

"This lady wanted to see Ms. Mills without an appointment," was the reply the secretary gave.

The man nodded in understanding. He looked at the clothes the woman was sporting, trying to size up the reason for her being here. "I can assist you with whatever problem you may be having, my office is right this way."

"I'm not here for a consultation." Emma ground out. She was losing her patience. These guys were treating her like a child!

"Oh?" the secretary piped up. "Well clearly you're not here for a job."

"What? No I- even if I was, what the hell is your problem? Just because I'm not wearing a fancy thousand dollar suit, it doesn't make me lesser than you, sunshine."

* * *

Regina Mills had been having a terrible day. One of her clients, the one she had neglected to see the other day due to Emma's injury, decided yesterday to chew her out for it, leading to quite a heated battle between the two. He then expected her to still take on his case, and for free. She laughed in his face and had him escorted out of the building.

With all the time she lost yesterday, she was thankful for the 2 hour period that she had in order to try to catch up with her files. Technically it was only one hour, but she was forgoing her lunch hour to finish everything. She could muster something to eat later.

But of course, there had to be a ruckus going on outside. Just her luck. She gripped her table tightly as she got out of her desk chair, getting ready to give someone a piece of her mind. Out of all the scenarios she expected to see, what was happening was definitely not it.

Emma Swan was standing in front of Ashley's desk, the secretary herself had a glare going on, and Mr. Locksley was trying to usher her somewhere.

"What the hell is going on here?" All three whipped around at hearing her voice. Both of her employees shrank down the slightest at seeing her, while Emma just stood there, furious as ever. But the fury wasn't directed at her, rather at the two she had been talking to.

"Well I-" Emma started trying to explain, but was bowled over by Ashley.

"I'm sorry Ms. Mills, this woman here was trying to get in here without an appointment, we're sorry for disturbing you."

Emma however, turned right back to the secretary. "Is that your big issue? Me not having an appointment? Fine." Emma then grabbed a card from the stack on top of the desk, took out her cellphone, and started to dial.

3 seconds later Ashley's desk phone started to ring.

Regina was dumbfounded at the blonde's impertinence. She finally shook herself out of her reverie. "That won't be necessary. Please come with me, Ms. Swan."

As Regina walked off back to her office, Emma grinned at the secretary, who had her hand on the receiver ready to pick up. She was baffled; her boss knew the lady, and not only that, but was letting her have their meeting without an appointment? Who was she?

Once Emma was inside the lush office, Regina closed the door behind her, and turned to glare at the woman, arms crossed in front of her. "What in the world were you thinking?"

Emma just sheepishly held up the bag she had been carrying. "I thought we could do lunch. I just got out of work and figured I should thank you for the other day, even if it was you thanking me for helping with your thing...yeah." And Emma was rambling so she just let the response trail off.

Regina however, was surprised, and pleasantly so. The woman had gone out of her way to bring her lunch, hunting down her work place to bring it to her? Plus she was a bit hungry. She could spare some time. She gave the faintest of smiles before gesturing to the visitor's chair in front of her desk, "Very well, have a seat."

The blonde grinned. She was finally getting somewhere. "Oh and sorry for disrupting you, but to be fair, your secretary is kind of annoying."

Regina's smile widened a bit as she nodded. "But she gets the job done."

"So, I got us Chinese, I wasn't sure if you liked it, but Bobby told me he had gotten some deliveries for you for Chinese, so I'm assuming you'll at least stomach it."

The older woman took the offered box, breaking open her chopsticks. She had to hand it to Emma Swan, the woman was nothing if not persistent and resourceful. "Thank you."

* * *

**September 27**

The two women had managed to find an easy rhythm of conversation, getting to know each other, albeit Regina was a lot less willing to share some things, Emma respected the other woman's need for privacy, instead sharing parts of her colourful life to the brunette.

She learnt that Emma Swan was an orphan moving around foster houses constantly. She had a number of friends from siblings and other fellow foster kids from group homes, but her closest friend was a woman named Mary Margaret, her sister in her final foster family. She had apparently always wanted to become a cop, stemming from her need to have justice - the blonde hinted that some of her past foster parents did some dubious deals, but she wouldn't disclose more information.

Regina had also shared a bit, explaining about her mother's iron fist rule, moulding Regina into the perfect daughter, while her father meekly watched. Although she was interested in law, her career choice would've been that whether she liked it or not. She had finally managed to break free from her mother's grasp only when the elder Mills had passed away, leaving the law firm in her capable hands.

By the end of September, the two had shared a few lunches together, Ashley was finally softening up to Emma showing up at noon at least once every week with a bag of takeout. With Emma's odd hours and Regina's rigorous one, if they couldn't meet for lunch, they had their chance conversations in the hallways that varied from early in the morning to late at night.

Mrs. Green, the elderly lady in 103, was completely flabbergasted at the change. Poor lady practically fainted a couple of weeks back, seeing that the two women were actually getting along after nearly a year of having to endure the entire debacle.

Now, Emma was once again at Regina's door. It was Saturday, Emma's day off, and the brunette was usually home by this time.

"Emma." The door opened and the brunette was surprised to see the blonde there.

"Hey. I know you aren't the walking person, so I won't offer that again don't worry. But I was wondering if you wanted to watch a movie? Like we don't even need to go to the cinema, just pick a movie and we can just wind down and watch something."

The brunette looked very remorseful right then. "I'm really sorry Emma, I'm a bit swamped with work. I've got a big case coming up. Rain check?"

Emma gave an easy smile. "Hey it's totally alright. You're a busy woman. But yeah, you owe me one!"

Regina also smiled. It made Emma's day to be able to see the brunette smile, bonus points if she was the one to make her smile. She really wondered why the other woman didn't smile more often, it was a gorgeous sight. "Thank you for understanding. I'll talk to you soon?"

"Sure thing. Also big win for me, I managed to knock on your door and not end up with a door slammed in my face!" Emma grinned.

* * *

**October 17**

"You've seriously never been trick or treating?" Emma and Regina were standing in the hallway. Regina managed to leave from work a bit earlier, and caught the blonde woman headed to go grocery shopping, and to go buy candy for the kids.

"My mother saw it as childish."

"And of course a child has no right to being childish," Emma replied with a smirk.

Thankfully, Regina was a bit more laid-back regarding criticisms against her mother. After 2 months, she was having a really hard time not calling the blonde woman her friend. But her pride still had her holding off on telling the blonde she won.

"Tell you what. Why don't you come over to my apartment on Halloween and help me hand out candy to the kids? I'd take you trick or treating, but I've kinda made it a tradition to be a candy-giver to the kids in the neighbourhood."

"The hero of Halloween," Regina replied sardonically.

"Yes I am." Emma puffed out her chest. "So, deal?"

"Deal." Regina nodded.

"And don't forget to get a costume!" Emma yelled back as she made her way to the elevator.

* * *

**October 31**

Emma rushed to open the door, knowing Regina was set to arrive, and got ready to get the brunette into the spirit of Halloween. "Trick or...treat."

Regina Mills was indeed standing in front of her door, and damn she looked gorgeous. Well, more than usual, if that was possible. She was wearing a dark red medieval dress, her medium length brown hair perfect as always, but on top of it was a crown.

"Wow, didn't think you'd go for a princess." A _very sexy_ princess, Emma was quick to add in her mind. She stepped aside to let the brunette inside.

Regina gave a mischievous grin in return, walking past the blonde who was disguised as a vampire, fake teeth, a trail of blood and cape all present. "That's because I'm a queen. The _Evil_ Queen at that."

Emma closed the door behind her, and chuckled. "I thought the Evil Queen was supposed to be this ratty old jealous lady."

Regina gave a mock gasp, and then narrowed her eyes, a sneer adorning her face. "For that insolent comment, I shall destroy your happiness."

To be entirely honest, for a hot second there, Emma thought she had actually upset Regina. But then she saw the playful glint in her eye and relaxed. "You're quick to get in character, your Majesty."

"Always the charming one."

"The charming-est vampire to ever be." Emma replied with a wink.

* * *

One hour later and Regina had to admit she was having a lot of fun. She could see why people would enjoy this. The children were adorable, and Emma's antics when opening the door were incredibly entertaining, Regina was having a ball.

Emma meanwhile, would always remember this as the historic day that she heard Regina Mills really laugh for the first time. The sound made Emma's heart soar, and she just kept on joking around with the kids. Some Evil Queen, she'd never pass of as one, not that Emma really minded, she liked this Regina a whole lot.

"No but did you see the kid all decked out in his Iron Man costume? It was so detailed!" Emma was gushing while they waited for their next visitors, standing near the door.

"Oh but the little girl as Batman was even better!"

The doorbell rang once more, and Emma picked up the bowl and opened the door.

"Emma!" Regina saw some 6 kids all standing in front of them.

"Me? I am not Emma! I am Lady Dracula! And I am going to feast on every one of you. RAWR!" Emma brought her hands up as claws, leaning down to be on their eyelevel.

Regina meanwhile brought her hand up to her mouth to stifle her laughter.

But the kids weren't deterred, and they ran at her, with a yell bringing her down with them.

"Ah! My weakness! Children!" Emma fell down with the force, sprawling onto the carpet, closed her eyes and acted 'dead'.

The kids settled down, sitting on top of her chest and legs,all giggling and poking at Emma. Then it was as if they noticed that Regina was there.

"Who're you?" One kid asked.

Regina smiled at him, kneeling in front of him. "I'm Regina. You?"

"Andrew! I'm a cowboy!"

"And a very handsome cowboy at that."

"What are you supposed to be?" A girl asked.

Emma, who was listening to everything, tried her best to stop a smile from appearing. Regina really seemed to be getting along with the kids.

"The _Evil_ Queen." Regina replied, winking at the kids.

"You don't look evil!"

"Yeah! I bet you're really a princess."

No one till now had believed Regina to be an evil monarch, everyone was convinced she was actually a princess, and a very pretty one at that, as one kid dressed as Zorro had pointed out with a blush a while back.

"Oh I know!" The girl snapped her fingers. "You can wake Emma!"

"Yeah! The kiss of true love!"

"Come on Regina! Kiss her!"

"Yeah 'Gina!"

"Oh no dear, I couldn't, maybe your friend the princess could do the honour instead."

Said princess scrunched her face up. "Ewww no, kissing is for grown-ups!"

The kids once more were insisting, and Regina realized that there was no way out of this.

And so she leaned down and kissed Emma in an upside down kiss.

It was meant to be a simple kiss, but before Regina could back away, Emma had grabbed her cheeks and brought their faces together for a deeper kiss.

"Ewwww!" The kids might've been all for the kiss, but actually seeing them kiss was grossing them out. Not really though, but kisses were supposed to be gross.

The two broke apart, smiling widely.

"Yay Emma woke up!"

"Yes I did! And for that, you guys can take as much candy as you want."

The kids soon left, leaving the two blushing women standing there, unsure what to say. Did they just jump from almost friends to something more?

* * *

**November 10**

It seemed the kiss had actually backtracked their progress. They were once more in the awkward phase during August. They saw each other in the hallways, greeted each other stiffly, and continued with their lives. Emma had said she was busy with a top secret case, so lunches were going to have to hold for a while. A convenient happening, Regina thought wryly.

It was then that she realized that she missed the blonde's company. The great Regina Mills had fallen.

She wanted Emma Swan as her friend.

So that night, as she went to the blonde's door, and knocked.

* * *

Emma Swan looked up at the clock. It was 11pm on a Monday night, who could it be?

She definitely wasn't expecting Regina to be on the other side of the door.

Things had gotten awkward between them, and Emma was afraid of screwing things up even more. Although Emma could bet that Regina enjoyed the kiss as much as she did, the brunette was a naturally private person, and admitting to things was not in her nature. She just regressed into herself until the danger passed.

"Regina? Is everything okay?" The brunette was nervous, that much Emma could tell. After 3 months, she knew the telltale signs. Fidgeting, downcast eyes were key signs.

"You won."

"What?" Emma honestly had no idea what Regina was talking about. What did she win? Did she sign up for a contest that she didn't remember?

Regina now raised her head, and looked Emma in the eyes. "You were right about the friends thing."

Emma felt like she was on cloud nine. She forgot who it was she was talking to, and just went to engulf the other woman in a bear hug. However, instead of acting like a porcupine and getting all defensive about contact, Regina returned the hug, wrapping her arms around the blonde.

After they broke apart, the blonde couldn't resist, and smirked. "Told ya."

* * *

**December 2**

The Halloween kiss was still hanging over their heads. Both women thought the other had forgotten about it, and so neither brought it up. However as it was, they both vividly remembered it, and wanted nothing more than to discuss it. But having been officially friends for less than a month meant that there was a delicate balance at stake.

"The weather that bad?" Emma asked, seeing the snow-covered Regina walking towards her apartment. It was Tuesday evening. Emma was off to work, cases always started piling up around the holidays.

"Worse." Regina muttered, rubbing her gloved hand over her head to get rid of excess snow in her hair. "Plus Christmas shoppers."

Emma knew that Regina had never been that much of a Christmas person. Not in a 'ba hum bug' way, just through negative experiences with her mother. The blonde had already insisted that she'd cash in her raincheck from October, and have her attend the Christmas dinner with Mary Margaret, David and herself. The couple had been surprised, after all they heard about the brunette, they hadn't imagined Emma would try to befriend the other woman.

"You missed a spot." Emma rubbed a spot of snow that had fallen into the brunette's cheek. The gesture was certainly intimate, and neither missed it.

Regina cleared her throat, looking anywhere but the blonde. "Well, enjoy work Emma. See you tomorrow?"

"Definitely. Lunch's on me." Emma grinned, walking backwards towards the elevator, still looking at Regina, who nodded.

* * *

**December 25**

Regina was actually having fun. Little James, the couple's child, was an absolutely adorable baby, cooing and making noises that made all four adults laugh.

They had played games, eaten dinner, and now while the parents went to put their child away, Emma and Regina were in charge of getting some wine out and ready.

"Do you have any idea where the glasses could be?" Emma asked Regina, who was standing by the kitchen island while the blonde looked through the drawers and cabinets.

"If you don't know, how can I possibly know?" Regina responded with a smirk.

"Ha ha."

Regina jerked her thumb back to the dining room. "There's some glasses still on the table?"

Emma shook her head, "Nah, I don't want to start with the whole 'whose glass was it?'"

Regina nodded. Understandable. "Very well. I'll go get the wine meanwhile."

"Sure."

After a couple of seconds, Emma finally found the glasses. She guessed they would be drinking in the dining room, so she made her way there with the four glasses in her hands.

Regina grabbed the wine bottle, held chilled in the bucket of ice throughout dinner. She assumed that drinks would be in the kitchen, so she made her way there.

Both women braked in the doorway, barely avoiding crashing into each other and creating a disaster. "Phew! Saved." Emma grinned.

Regina let out a soft laugh. Emma saw that there was a shadow on Regina's face, so she looked up.

"Mistletoe."

The brunette opened her eyes to look, and fell silent at seeing the plant as she looked back down to meet Emma's eyes. The blonde made the first move and placed a soft kiss on the brunette's lips.

"Merry Christmas Regina."

* * *

**December 31**

Once more the kiss had been avoided as a topic of discussion. Now both racked it up as being an 'in the moment' thing, so they left it at that.

Regina decided to finally be the one to take initiative and invite the blonde to her apartment for once. They were going to watch the Times Square Ball drop from the TV, and ring in the new year together.

"Come on! There's 5 minutes left!"

"I'm coming woman! Pouring champagne drunk isn't easy y'know!" Neither woman was truly that drunk, but they had had a few drinks before this, and were a bit tipsy and giggly.

"3 minutes!" Regina said as Emma came back, one filled champagne glass in each hand.

At 1 minute, Regina decided on something that she had been debating for the past week. She grabbed both glasses, and set them down on the table.

"What-" Emma was puzzled.

Regina looked at the TV screen, and saw that the timer was at 7 seconds. The brunette placed both hands on the blonde's cheeks.

Emma was afraid to move. She nearly forgot to breathe at that moment.

3 seconds.

"Happy New Year!" The TV screamed.

"Happy New Year's, Emma," and Regina joined their lips together.

* * *

**Before anyone asks, I couldn't decide on what show to make them watch, which is why I left it so vague.**

**Also I have no idea if keys can actually get stuck like that, but it nearly happened to me once, so it might be a thing.**

**Spanish translation: son of a bastard mother, if you had to say it literally. Basically what Emma had said earlier with son of a fucking bitch, but en espanol.**

**I hope that this was well-paced. I know some parts were longer than the others, but I felt that some areas deserved more exposition, while others were meant to be more snapshots so it wasn't just "wait, when did they decide that?"**

**Okay, next chapter, roommates!**


	2. Roommates

**Okay!**

**So here's the deal. When I had written the Neighbours AU, I honestly hadn't expected such an incredible feedback for it. And people wanted it continued!**

**And when the themes for this SQ Week were announced, and Roommates AU was one of them, I decided to take advantage of it and make this! And turn it into Defining Moments.**

**This is a continuation to Neighbours, which is in the previous chapter, and you really should read it first otherwise this won't really make that much sense, or if you want a refresher, that works too.**

**It starts exactly 1 year after the events on Neighbours. Also high-T for makeout scenes? [Better safe than sorry I suppose]**

**Also, due to how Neighbours took place in 2014, and ended in January 1st of 2015, this takes place in 2016.**

* * *

**January 1**

"Happy New Year's Regina," Emma grinned as they parted their lips.

Regina was still flushed from the kiss, but she managed a coherent reply. "Happy New Year's Emma."

"So, I've been thinking..." Emma started, wrapping her arms around Regina's waist.

"That is never good," Regina readily riposted.

Emma huffed and pouted. "Oh come on, you haven't even heard my idea yet!"

"Alright, alright, what is your _brilliant_ idea, Emma?" she asked, smirking as she looked expectantly at her girlfriend.

"Well, we've been dating for a year to the day, and we've been neighbours for so long but we're practically staying over at each other's house, so I was wondering if you wanted to move in together? And bonus; no U-Haul required!"

Regina thought about it for a second. It made a lot of sense, they practically stayed over with each other most nights anyway, but the dynamics of moving in together were a lot different. But what the hell. She wanted this. "Very well, let's move in together."

Emma let out a whoop of happiness and spun them around before claiming her lips again in a kiss.

* * *

A few hours later, after they had woken up, they were sitting on the couch at Emma's apartment, with the latter's head resting on Regina's lap, letting her girlfriend play with her blonde hair and trace lazy circles across her abdomen with her hands.

Now the question was, whose house were they going to move in to. That proved to be the first challenge for them.

"Mine is in a better state..." Regina reasoned.

Emma pouted, "But mine has a more homely feel!"

That was true, Regina felt more comfortable in Emma's home, and she did like spending time there. "Alright, you win, your house it is."

"Yeah?" The look of pure adoration that Emma gave her was magical, so Regina leaned down to claim Emma's lips in a kiss.

"Yes," Regina agreed as she lifted her head again.

"Great! I'll have a key made tomorrow."

* * *

**January 18**

Dismantling the final box, Regina truly felt moved in. She had her key switched, her old home for sale, and now she was officially living with her girlfriend.

She knew Emma was going to have a late shift tonight, so she set about making dinner for herself, planning on leaving some of it in the microwave for Emma to eat when she got back. This past year had been unique for her. For so long she had settled on having a life that revolved around work, and being satisfied with her sole friendship to Kathryn.

But of course, Emma had gone and changed all of that. Now she couldn't imagine her life without her girlfriend. Of course, things weren't always rainbows and sunshine with them. They've had their rocky moments, but they powered through them all. And now they were moving in together. She wondered how that would pan out.

* * *

**January 24**

Emma unlocked the door and shuffled inside, bone tired and trying to be silent as she shut the door. She deposited her stuff in the entrance way table, and tiptoed inside the apartment. She found Regina lying on the couch, a flimsy blanket barely providing her with warmth. Her girlfriend had once explained to her that she couldn't sleep in bed while Emma was out late - a sentiment that made Emma's heart melt - no matter how much she tried. So she slept on the couch, and every night, when Emma returned, she'd pick Regina up, and carry her to the bed. Settling her down gently, Emma quickly changed out of her clothes and into her pajamas.

She made her way under the covers, covering Regina as well. Spooning Regina, Emma made herself comfortable and pecked Regina on the cheek.

"Hmm? 'ma?" Regina gurgled.

"Go to sleep babe, I'm here."

Regina turned in Emma's embrace so they were facing each other, and fell asleep again. This was everything for Emma. Having her girlfriend here, and getting to see her like this.

* * *

**January 30**

"Oh Emma, don't forget to buy red pepper flakes. And meat for me to ground, make sure that it doesn't have too much fat-"

Emma grinned sheepishly and interrupted her girlfriend's vocal grocery list. "Say that I want to make sure we're on the same page, how do I go about verifying how much fat meat has?"

Regina sighed, and shook her head. She was in the office and had no time to go shopping. And since it was Emma's day off, she decided to delegate the task to her girlfriend, but so far, it was proving to be a more arduous task than if she had gone herself. "Check to make sure it doesn't have too much white on it."

"Right! I totally knew that." Emma had never been the type of person to care much for how her meat looked like, or buying fancy ingredients. But living together with Regina now meant that they were sharing their fridges, and therefore, compromising on what they would buy. Sure they had often gone on grocery runs for the other in the past year, but now it wasn't just a blatant agreeing to buy whatever food the other needed.

It was definitely a big change to their dynamic. But they didn't really mind. They were trying out new food. Emma was falling for Regina's succulent dishes, while Regina indulged with some of Emma's unique recipes and her sweet tooth.

* * *

**February 14**

Regina woke up to the smell of coffee wafting into the room. She sat up and was met with the sight of Emma Swan wearing absolutely nothing but an apron, and carrying breakfast on a tray.

"Happy Valentine's day, babe."

After Emma put the tray down on the bedside table, Regina grabbed Emma's face with both her hands, and pulled the blonde back into bed with her, rolling them until Emma was pinned beneath her. "Happy Valentine's, my love," Regina murmured in that husky voice that did things to Emma's libido, before capturing her lips in a kiss.

Their kissing quickly became a steamy makeout session, with Regina trailing her hands all over the exposed skin of Emma's torso, nipping and licking where she could. Once Emma started trying to lift Regina's shirt, the latter chuckled and moved back, getting Emma to whine, hands dropping back to the bed with a thump.

Bringing her mouth close to Emma's ear, Regina chuckled, "Really? Whining? You know I have to head to work, otherwise I'd ravage you here and now."

Regina got off the bed before she fell into the clutches of Emma's irresistibility. She took a bite from the breakfast Emma had prepared - waffles, her favourite guilty pleasure food - and started making her way to the closet to get ready. It'd be breakfast on the run, but she was putting on a show, she knew Emma loved seeing her get dressed just as much as she loved undressing her.

* * *

By now, Emma was well-known at Mills and Associates, she had even gotten friendlier with Ashley, Regina's diligent secretary. She went up the elevator, double-checking that the food was warm. She decided that she'd spend the day showering Regina with love and admiration. It might be cliche, but she was in love, and besides, she'd never miss an opportunity to let her girlfriend know how much she loved her.

Getting off the elevator, she made her way to Ashley's desk. "Hey, is Regina free?"

Ashley looked up and cringed, giving her answer before even saying a word. "Not exactly. New client is a bit of a dick. He's been in there being rude, I'm not exactly sure what to do."

Emma thought quickly on the spot. Then she got an idea.

Inside the office, Regina was ready to throw something at this man. "Dr. Whale, I'm not sure you're understanding-"

"Oh I'm understanding just fine, lady. You think your prestigious law firm is too good for pro bono work?" Dr. Victor Whale was a cheapskate, not that he'd ever admit to it. His case was a complex one, and certainly not something that Regina could consider delegating hours upon hours and numerous employees to deal with pro bono.

Their argument had been going on for more than 20 minutes, she had half a mind to kick him out, but he seemed the violent type, already having slammed his hand quite forcefully onto her desk, twice. Before she could try to explain the situation for the umpteenth time her intercom buzzed. "Sorry to interrupt you Ms. Mills, but Detective Swan is here with some important files she needs you to sign."

Right then, the door opened and Emma strode in, looking pretty serious, gun and badge very visible as she made her way to the desk and handed a manila folder to her. "Sorry to barge in, but we need these papers signed ASAP."

Regina opened the folder and found a sheet of paper on the front with Emma's handwriting on it.

_Ashley gave me the breakdown of things. He's basically an ass who won't take no for an answer._

_So just pretend you're signing things, and once you're 'done', just let me know if you want me to kick him out or not._

_If you want me to kick him out, just say that you want me to 'stay behind, I need to discuss something with you.'_

_Otherwise, just say 'have a good day detective.'_

_Also, I have lunch :)_

Regina discreetly looked up and fought the smile as she saw Emma standing there, arms crossed and glaring at Dr. Whale as if he was some sort of scum. She turned back to the papers and quickly scribbled her signature, flipping to other pages as if she was signing those too. After she was done, she closed the folder and handed it out to Emma, and said nothing to her, instead she turned to the doctor and said, "Now, Dr. Whale, we've already gone over our appointed time, so I will have to end this right now. I have told you of my fees for this case, and they are non-negotiable. Should you find yourself interested in taking on this case with us, you have my phone number, have a good day."

Whale looked at Emma, who had immersed herself in looking over the signed blank sheets of paper as if there was anything on it of any importance, and it seemed he decided that it wasn't worth pursuing his issue with a member of the police force in the vicinity. Smart man, Regina thought wryly.

"Yeah, have a good day Ms. Mills. Detective," he bowed his head respectfully and left the room.

As soon as he was gone, Regina relaxed, and Emma smiled. She quickly went outside and returned, this time with their lunch in tow. "So, my gorgeous valentine, I brought us lunch. I decided to change it up a bit, so today I got us Pad Thai instead."

She set the bag with their lunch down on Regina's desk, and made her way around her girlfriend's chair, gently massaging her shoulders. Regina let out a moan of contentedness. She leaned her head back on her chair and Emma kissed her. "Thank you, for earlier."

Emma shrugged it off. "No big deal. Even Ashley was worried, and what's the point of having a girlfriend who's a cop if you can't use her as an excuse every now and then?"

Regina laughed in response, placing her hands over Emma's, still resting on Regina's shoulders. "That is true, and it wound up being useful that you came here with your gun and badge. Now I just need to find a way to transport you here every time I get someone like the distinguished Dr. Whale."

"People like him are frequent?" Emma asks, looking at her with a frown.

Regina nods, and Emma huffs, before saying. "Well, maybe you'll discover some hidden or dormant super powers down the line that can transport me to you at will."

"If that would happen, I think I would take advantage of it quite often," Regina responds with a smirk and a wink. "Now, let's eat. Otherwise lunch will get cold."

* * *

**February 27**

That day, they'd had their first argument living together.

It was a pretty silly argument too, who was in charge of taking out the garbage. In Regina's mind, it should be Emma, since she was always last to arrive and therefore, last to have to throw things out. But for Emma, she believed it should be Regina, since when she did arrive at night, Emma was always brain-dead, and the last thing she wanted to figure out at 4am was which garbage bag should go down which chute.

"You know what, I won't argue about this anymore. I have work to do, and you have to get to your job," Regina said, finalizing the topic and leaving the room.

Emma wanted to follow her girlfriend and try to diffuse the tension. But Regina was right, she was going to be late for work otherwise. So with a last goodbye - which went unanswered - Emma left for work.

"I don't really get it David, like, garbage? We're seriously having an argument about garbage of all things."

David merely laughed. "The only piece of advice I can impart on you is that you'll be having a lot more ridiculous arguments. I mean, I still remember one time that Mary Margaret got on my case about leaving the toilet seat up."

Emma made a face. "No offense but that's pretty gross."

"The point is that you have to decide what you prefer. Doing the garbage, or losing Regina?"

That made Emma reconsider her stance, and when she returned home that night, she went up to where Regina was still working, reading glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, papers spread all over the coffee table, with her laptop resting in the table while she riffled through papers. So Emma did the only thing she could think of doing, and she grabbed the laptop and sat down on the newly vacated space, with the laptop now resting on her thighs.

"I'm busy Emma."

"I know, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I overreacted, and it's a silly thing to be arguing about, and that taking out the garbage isn't exactly rocket science to figure out, and I've had to do harder things at 4am, so basically, I don't have a problem taking out the garbage then. I was just being lazy," Emma said, and without waiting for a response, started going to move away.

She was stopped by one of Regina's hands latching onto her wrist, while the other grabbed the laptop from Emma's hand and deposited it on the desk. With both hands now free, Regina pulled Emma by her hips so that she was kneeling on the sofa over Regina's legs. Hands trailed up to cup Emma's cheeks and pulled her in for a kiss. Emma sunk down so she was sitting on Regina's thighs, their kiss deepening. Regina kept running her hands throughout Emma's body, while Emma's fingers threaded through her hair. By the time they parted, they were flushed, and breathing heavily.

"So, does that mean I'm forgiven?" Emma asked with a small smile.

Regina nodded. "Yes, you are."

Emma's smile upgraded to a full on grin. "Great, I'll go make us dinner." She kissed Regina quickly, and got off her girlfriend, heading to the kitchen.

From then on in, whenever Emma arrived late at night from work, each garbage bag was labelled with a post-it note that neatly defined which bag should go in which chute. The post-its would be re-used endlessly until its adhesiveness ran out, after which Regina would make new post-its.

* * *

**March 8**

The case Regina was working on was beyond taxing. She felt like she had barely paid any attention to Emma this past week, for which she felt extremely guilty. Her understanding girlfriend kept on shooing the apologies away, explaining with a smile that she totally got it, "and besides, no way in hell am I gonna stand in the way of you preparing to kick ass in court." Emma's words, not Regina's.

She was so absorbed in her work, she practically jumped the stratosphere and back when she heard a loud sneeze, followed by a bout of coughing. Scrambling out of her seat she made her way to the source of the sound.

"Emma?" Regina asked.

"Here," Emma's nasally voice responded. As Regina approached, she saw her girlfriend with a red nose, and she had to hold off from laughing at how hilarious she looked. "Whad's so funny?"

"You Emma Swan, are sick," Regina explained, crossing her arms in front of her chest, leaning against the doorframe. "You didn't bundle up during your last stakeout, I'm guessing?"

"I did!" Emma exclaimed. Then she bashfully looked down and mumbled, "I was sort of not that bundled up a few nights back when I was chasing as suspect..."

Regina sighed and rolled her eyes, glaring pointedly at her girlfriend. "Emma..."

"What! What am I supposed to do? Tell the bad guy 'yo hold up, I gotta get cozy because you're going to freeze me half to death and my girlfriend will chew me out if I get a cold because I was careless'?"

Smirking, Regina turned and started making her way to the kitchen. "At least you're self-aware of your mistakes darling."

And so, that day Emma was saddled with a soup bowl filled to the brim and bed rest. The only downside was not being able to kiss Regina, and no sex, but she'd get better in no time. She could last a week.

* * *

**March 28**

"Finally! I thought this cold would never go away!" Emma exclaimed, finally able to breathe properly through her nostrils again. The next thing she did was kiss Regina while the latter was still waking up from her slumber.

"I never thought I'd see you waking up happy on a Monday," Regina murmured.

Straddling Regina's hips, Emma smirked. "Well what can I say? Getting over a cold makes me happy. Now come on, I have like, 20 days of love-making and kissing to make up to you."

Suffice it to say that both women arrived late to work, making up an excuse about the toaster malfunctioning, or not being able to find the keys, depending on who was asked.

* * *

That night, Emma treated Regina to a succulent dinner, as a thank you for taking care of her for all her sickness. Although Emma had nearly been back to normal before today, Regina still insisted on being the doting caretaker, so now she was going to make up for it.

Once Regina arrived, Emma grinned and greeted her at the door. "Hey babe, how was your day?"

"Good! I just met our new neighbour, you should go say hi." Regina had managed to sell her old home last month, and apparently, the new tenant had just moved in.

Emma shook her head, feigning a mock expression of horror. "Hold up. _You_, Regina Mills, actually went to say hi to a new neighbour? The world must be ending."

Regina gave Emma a playful smack on her shoulder. "Oh shut up, I'm perfectly capable of being civil with new neighbours."

"Really? 'Cause I distinctly remember a door slammed in my face," Emma deadpanned.

"And look how that turned out," Regina smiled and pecked Emma on the lips. "You're never going to let it go are you? No matter how many times I apologize for it?"

"Precisely," Emma grinned, and quickly met their lips for another kiss. "Now I am going to meet our new neighbour."

The new tenant of apartment 108 was a lady named Ruby Lucas, she had just moved into the area, to help her grandmother run a diner. She seemed like just the kind of person that Emma would get along with, and had already made plans to meet her that weekend for some coffee and to get to know each other better.

* * *

**April 13**

Despite how boring it may sound, if there was one thing that Emma enjoyed doing every now and then, was seeing Regina in court. Of course some cases were dull, and consisted more of bureaucracy, standardized lines and scripted dialogue. But every now and then it was like watching a major storm in the works, and Emma could only watch in admiration as she saw her girlfriend take the stage and win cases.

It should also be noted that Emma was usually left wide-eyed and thankful that she had never received such ire from her girlfriend. Their disagreements sounded like passionate love letters in contrast to how scathing Regina could get. Every now and then they'd catch each other's eyes and Emma would grin, encouraging her, which would garner a wink from Regina.

Regina would never admit this out loud, but she enjoyed it when Emma accompanied her. It made her honoured that Emma cared so much for her that she was willing to sit through some of her court cases, even the boring ones. Plus she always got a confidence boost to see her there.

After court was adjourned for the day, they'd always meet in the back hallway and leave together. When cases were over, Regina had to do some public appearances - interviews and smiling for photos and the like - before she would meet with Emma, and her girlfriend would whisk her away to dine out on the town.

"Congrats Lawyer Mills, another case won," Emma grinned, glancing over at her girlfriend momentarily.

Regina was ecstatic, it had been a tough case. "Thank you Detective Swan. So where are we headed?"

"Well I heard that there was this new place, La Samba, heard that it's got great food. Made reservations for 8 so we've got a few hours to kill."

"And what do you propose we do with that time?"

"Well it's a gorgeous day out, so how about a walk around? Plus you can help me pick out a gift for Mary Margaret and David. It's their 2 year anniversary."

Regina nodded and settled into the seat as Emma drove. "Sounds perfect."

* * *

**May 2**

Emma knew they were due for an argument, she could just tell. Things had been going pretty good for them. Whenever they had disagreements - such as how much water Regina used in her baths or how Emma needed to clean up after herself when she ate junk food - they would compromise and talk to each other.

But if there was one thing that they hadn't really talked about, and that they knew was driving the other up the wall, was their work in relation to their sleep schedules.

Regina was a busy woman. As the boss of a powerful and well-known law firm, she usually had to be at work early on in the day - sometimes as early as 6 am - and when she arrived home at around 8, she was often taking her work home with her, and would settle down somewhere around the apartment, and spread her things out. Most places, Emma didn't have a problem with. But Regina's favourite place just happened to be their bed.

Unfortunately, this caused with a few problems for Emma. Her work schedule was anything but regular or well-defined. Blame it on the department being unorganized, or Emma herself for being too kind and taking shifts from people - she would eventually cash in the favours for when she needed a night off - but Emma had days where she held a normal 9-5 job, days when she'd have to go in at 5 am and be done by 3, or days when she'd have the morning off, arrive at 5 pm, and not get off until 4 in the morning. When it was the latter, the last thing Emma wanted to arrive to was her girlfriend using their bed as a table to hold all the documents she was perusing, not leaving even an inch for Emma to burrow under the covers.

"Regina," Emma whined. "Can you please move your stuff?"

"In a minute," Regina mumbled, distracted.

Emma really wasn't in the mood to wait a minute. Especially since a minute in Regina time could very well mean half an hour. So she did what any bone-tired and cranky person would do when they wanted to get to bed at 3 am. She started gathering the papers and moving them.

That obviously was a bad idea as Regina exclaimed, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Going to sleep," Emma responded as she put the stack of papers off to the middle of the bed and got ready to get cozy under the covers.

"Those were organized chronologically! Couldn't you just _wait_?"

Emma collapsed on the bed and threw the covers over herself, saying nothing.

"Of course you couldn't," Regina scoffed, knowing Emma was listening as she continued her tirade. "You're Detective Emma Swan, everyone else must move out of the way. Heaven forbid that you're actually considerate. I mean, I don't see _you_ being considerate when you have to get up at ass-crack of dawn and make a ruckus getting ready. But you can't wait five minutes to let me gather my stuff? You just delayed me at least 10 minutes of my work."

Hearing nothing again, Regina let out a growl, "Are you even listening to me?"

"Yeah, I'm self-centred and make a lot of noise in the morning, and am impatient. It's 3 am Regina, can't we do this tomorrow?"

"It _is_ tomorrow, darling," Regina responded smugly.

Emma groaned. "Pedantic much? Who spat in your coffee today?"

"Metaphorically? Currently only you. And just for your information, 5 minutes have gone by, which means if you would've waited until now, you'd be able to have gotten into bed without any problems, instead of being selfish as you are."

"How am I being selfish Regina? It's 3 am and I'm dead tired and want to sleep."

Regina scoffed, scowling at the back of Emma's head. "Well clearly not tired enough to not want to argue with me."

Emma finally turned around to face Regina, wearing a scowl of her own. "That's because I have my girlfriend yelling in my ear, which kinda makes it hard to sleep."

"Oh so **I'm** to blame for this? You disrupted my work! Imagine if I went to your office and started strewing your papers everywhere!"

"Why would you even be in my office in the first place? Unlike you, I don't take my work home," Emma responded indignantly.

"Is that what this is about? You _do_ bring your work home Emma Swan. Every single night when you're out working late it's like you're bringing work home."

Emma threw the covers off and got up with a huff. "You know what, I'm not going to deal with this anymore."

* * *

**May 4**

If there was one thing that could be undoubtedly said about these two women, it was that they were hard-headed. In the month that she had been living there, Ruby Lucas was beginning to find out how true that was. It wasn't that she minded having Emma around, she was nice, they were getting along famously. The only problem was having to listen to Emma basically talk to herself on her problem with Regina.

Supposedly, Emma was having a conversation with Ruby about this, except that Ruby couldn't actually interject a word edgewise with her opinion on the matter, because Emma would barrel through unintentionally each time she tried. Instead she settled on listening, adding hums at intervals to show she was listening.

She couldn't really figure out who really was at fault. Emma did disrupt Regina, but at the same time, Regina was taking up all the space...she was thankful she never had to deal with that. No sir, Ruby was going to stay single and enjoy it.

Ruby hoped that their issue was resolved quickly.

* * *

Emma hated it when criminals thought that hurting her would let them get away. They always tried, and they always failed.

So now she was headed home with the prospect of taking a nice long bath and properly bandaging up her shoulder wound. It was Wednesday, and she knew Regina was usually busy and didn't get home until late, so she had the apartment to herself for now and could avoid her.

She shut the door with a slam and winced as she shrugged off her jacket. Thankfully it wasn't her red one, since this jacket was beyond salvation. It was old, so she didn't really mind. She kicked off her boots and shrugged off her shirt, left only in her underwear, the dressing, and jeans.

"Emma?!"

Hearing her name, she looked at the source and found her girlfriend, pale and looking horrified. "Oh, hey, I thought you were at work and I was-"

"Are you okay? What happened?" Regina was upon her in seconds, hands shaking as she stopped herself from touching her girlfriend.

"It's okay, just a stab wound-"

Regina let out a vaguely delirious laugh. "Just a stab wound, she says, as if it's the most normal thing in the world."

Before Emma can say anything, Regina grabs her arm - the one without the wounded shoulder - and drags her towards the bathroom. "Wait Regina, I'm fine-"

"No you're not, and I don't care if we're in the middle of a fight and you leave right after to continue sulking at Ruby's, but I will not let you deal with this alone." After more than a year together, Regina had become quite proficient in first aid, helping Emma dress wounds, and assess damage. It wasn't that Emma was a particularly clumsy person, she just had a terrible propensity of getting wounded in the field.

So Regina helped Emma after the latter finished showering, redressing the wound. Emma sat silently in the toilet with the cover down, and Regina kneeled in front of her, having the best angle to examine everything. After they were done, Regina moved to stand and walk out of the bathroom, but Emma held steadfast to Regina's wrists. "Regina-"

She wouldn't meet Emma's eyes, and just shook her head. "We shouldn't argue like this. You're hurt and-"

"Regina. Please, look at me."

And when she did, Emma saw that Regina had tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," they said at the exact same time. They chuckled and tension began to trickle away from the room.

"Compromise?" Emma asked.

Regina nodded. "What would you like?"

It was how most of their arguments were solved. Both parties made a list of demands, and they'd try to reach a happy medium, deciding what they would give up to make their partner happy. "To be able to collapse in our bed when I get home without having to wait for chronologically organized papers to be rearranged."

"Well I can go work in the living room if you want."

Emma bit her lip, looking sheepish. "Actually, I kinda enjoy you working on the bed, it's...nice, I don't know. I just don't want papers strewn about where I sleep. At least until I get on the bed. If you want to throw papers on top of me afterwards, you totally can."

Regina chuckled. "Very well, deal. I'll buy one of those pliable tables and set it up by the bed, to keep your half of the bed unoccupied, that sound good?"

Emma nodded. "Perfect. Your turn."

"Can you please be quieter in the mornings? I know you're cranky because you have to wake up early, but do you have to make the rest of the world suffer?" Regina asked with a pout.

"Alright alright, I'm sorry, really. I'll be as quiet as a mouse in the mornings," Emma grinned, giving Regina a swift kiss on the lips.

* * *

**May 27**

"So." Regina looked up and saw Marian strutting into her office. Marian was an associate in Regina's firm, and quite competent too. She was married to Robert Locksley, another employee of hers. She had never been too close to the couple, but after Emma started showing up, she started getting to know a lot more about the people she worked with. She had actually got along pretty well with Marian, and enjoyed working with her.

"Yes?"

"Your girlfriend is pretty dedicated," Marian said with a smirk. Emma had just left after bringing her lunch to eat together.

Regina nodded, smiling and looking away, hoping to hide the blush.

"Aww look at that, big bad Lawyer Mills does blush. I feel like I should record this moment for posterity and take a picture."

Giving Marian a look, she playfully asked, "Are you here for anything specific dear? Or just to tease me?"

"I was actually wondering when you two were going to get married! I mean, you two are adorable and have been steady for a year and a half now or something? Anyway, have you been thinking about it?"

Regina sighs, and then nods. "I have..."

* * *

**June 18**

And so had Emma. She'd been thinking about it for a while.

"It makes sense, right guys?" Emma had been invited to a nice card game with David and Mary Margaret to enjoy the nice summer breeze out on their balcony. Little James was happily babbling in Mary Margaret's lap, giving her tips on what card to use.

"Well sure," Mary Margaret says, nodding. "Got any ideas for a proposal?"

"Not yet," Emma furrowed her brows.

David chuckled. "Well first, I'd try to get a ring, then figure out how you're going to propose."

"Right, makes sense," Emma nods. "What if she says no? I mean, we've been kinda having ups and downs lately living together..."

"And it's going to keep happening, so embrace the happy moments. You two have managed to work things out pretty great for two people who used to hate each other as neighbours," Mary Margaret pointed out.

"Alright, I'll do it."

* * *

**July 16**

It was a picturesque Saturday. Both women were nervous, and for the exact same reason. See, the downside to proposing, was uncertainty. You never knew if the other person would say yes, whether everything would go as planned. Or: if both of them would propose at the same time.

Of course, neither Emma nor Regina were actually aware of that latter fact. But they both had been thumbing their own velvet box, and practising their proposal speeches as they walked through a blooming park with their free hands intertwined.

"It's a gorgeous day huh?"

Regina nodded, "Yes, it's beautiful."

They both fell back into silence. Neither had planned for anything elaborate. Just sit them down, and speak from the heart. And they were both aiming for the exact same spot.

"Do you want to go sit at our favourite bench?" Regina asked, stroking the back of Emma's hand with her thumb.

Emma nodded and dragged her the rest of the way. "I'd love to."

They sat down, and released a deep breath of nervousness. This was hard.

"Regina..."

"Yes Emma?"

Emma cleared her throat, and then pulled out her box and opened it, only to have Regina begin to laugh. She frowned. "Uhm, Regina? Are you okay?"

Without saying a word, still laughing, Regina held out her own box and opened it.

They both went into a fit of giggles, all tension forgotten as they realized that they both had wordlessly agreed to marry the other just by showing the simultaneous proposal rings.

"Are we really that in sync?" Emma asked as she caught her breath.

Regina nodded. "We are."

* * *

**And that was that!**

**I'll see about doing anymore stories, maybe them adopting kids...and getting married...would people be interested?**

**I just kinda wanted to make a contrast, since Neighbours was them developing their relationship from August to January, this would be January to July, as roommates! Though I'm not sure if it truly fits into roommates...I hope it does. **

**Also I hope this wasn't rushed, but it's a bit taxing to write with a migraine that won't leave you for 2 days. Hence why it was also sort of late.**

**Anyway! So the last thing I'm gonna be doing for SQ Week is going to be the Canon Divergence AU, which is already written and is waiting to be published!**

**So it'll be up tomorrow!**

**I'd love to hear your thoughts!**


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